BENEFITS OF CONGREGATIONAL PRAYERS (SALAH)

Keeping in view all the above facts you can now perceive how congregational Salah performs all this work.

Assembling on one call

It is ordained that hearing the call of Adhan you should leave your work and go to the mosque. The rising of Muslims from all sides on hearing this call and gathering at one centre creates in them the same condition as is found in the army. Soldiers on hearing the sound of the bugle understand that their commander is calling them. On hearing this summons only one kind of feeling is aroused in the minds of all, i.e. the thought of obeying the order of the commander and in response to this call all of them do only one work, i.e. they run at this voice and flocking from every side assemble at one place. Why is such a system followed in the army? For this very reason that firstly the habit and trait be cultivated in every soldier to obey and carry out orders separately one by one and then simultaneously all such obedient soldiers become one group, and one team, and develop the habit of gathering on the commander's order at one place and at one time so that when a war takes place, the entire army should gather on one call and work together for one single objective. It should never happen that all the soldiers, who may be great warriors by themselves, when called to perform a task do not assemble to put up a fight and go about their own way according to their individual wish. If such be the condition of any army, a platoon of fifty soldiers of the enemy can finish one thousand brave soldiers of it by catching hold of them individually.

Exactly on this principle has the rule been made for Muslims also that whichever Muslim hears the voice of Adhan he should at once leave all his work and go to the mosque so that all Muslims joining together become an army of Allah. They are made to do the practice of thus assembling five times a day because the duty of this army of God is harder than that of all the armies of the world. For other armies a war takes place after long periods and for its sake they have to do all these military exercises at intervals. But this army of God has to light with satanic forces perpetually and has to carry out the orders of the commander without break. And yet it is a very great concession to it that only for five times a day it is ordered to hurry up on hearing the divine bugle and assemble in the 'cantonment of God, i.e. mosque.

Purposeful assembly

This is the benefit accniing from Milan only. Next you gather in the mosque and this gathering itself provides innumerable advantages. Here you meet each other, recognize each other and come to know each other. It is in this capacity that you are all slaves of God, followers of one Prophet, believers in one Book, and there is only one aim of life for you all. You have all gathered here to fulfil this aim only and you have to carry on fulfilling it even after going back from here. This kind of attachment and this type of acquaintance automatically creates in you the feeling that you are all one community, you are soldiers of the same army, you are brothers unto each other, and your interests, your aims, your losses and profits are all common, and your lives are integrated with each other.

Mutual sympathy

Again when you will look, at each other, it will not be like an enemy but like a friend looking at a friend and a brother looking at a brother. As such, when you will notice that a brother of yours is in tattered clothes, another with sorrowful looks, some other has come with a starved face while yet another is disabled, crippled or blind, then inevitably sympathy from them will be aroused in your heart. Those of you who are well-off will take pity on the poor and the helpless among them. The afflicted ones will have the courage to approach the rich ones and acquaint them with their plight. When it will be known about someone that he did not come to the mosque due to illness or any calamity, it will occur to someone to visit him to enquire about his welfare. If the news will reach of anybody's death all will join to perform his funeral Salah and share the grief of the bereaved family. All these things are conducive to your mutual affection and the spirit of helping each other.

Gathering for a sacred purpose

Now see that you have gathered at a sacred place for a sacred purpose. This is not an assembly of thieves, drunkards and gamblers whose hearts are reeking with impure intentions. This a gathering of slaves of Allah for the purpose of worshipping Allah, in Allah's house. All have come here to affirm their servitude to Allah. in a setting like this, in the first place an honest person would feel ashamed of his sins within himself, but in case he has previously committed any sin in front of any of those present there, this confrontation will make him extremely repentant. And if there is desire among Muslims to admonish each other and if they know how to improve each other's condition with sympathy and love, he sure that this gathering will be a source of blessing and beneficence. In this way all the Muslims together will remove each other's deficiency and the whole community will gradually become a community of virtuous and pious person.

Brotherhood

The above blessing emanates from the mere act of Muslims gathering in the mosque. Now, next to it, there are many more latent blessings in offering Salah with the congregation. You stand in a row shoulder with each other. No one is high or low nor is there anyone holding a high rank or of a low status. In the divine court in the presence of God, all belong to one class. Nobody gets polluted if any fellow-worshipper's hand or body touches him. All are pure because all are human beings. All are slaves of God and believers in one Deen only. There is distinction among Muslims of families, tribes and countries. Someone is Savvid, someone is Pathan, someone IN Rajput, someone is Jat, someone belongs to one country and someone to another, some speaks one language and some another, but all are standing in one row engaged in worshipping God. This signifies that all comprise one nation. The division of family and lineage, tribes and nations, is all false. The greatest relation between you is that of servitude and worship of God. When you are one in this matter, why should you be separate in any other matter?

Uniformity in movements

Then, when you stand shoulder to shoulder with each other, it appears that an army is in attention for service before their Master. By standing in a line and by making movements simultaneously, a spirit of singleness of purpose develops in your minds. You are made to do this practice, to become one in the servitude of God in such a manner that all of you raise your hands together and move your feet together as if you are not ten, twenty, hundred or thousand persons but have jointly become like a single man.

Prayers

What do you do after thus standing together in one line? With one voice you submit to your Master:

Iyyaka Na'budu wa iyyaka nasta'in

"Thee alone do we worship; Thee alone do we ask for help".

Ihdi-na-s-sirat-al mustagim

"Shows us the straight path".

Rabba-na lakal-hamd

"Our God! Praise is for You only".

As-Salam-o-'Alai-na wa ' la ibadillah-is Salihin

"Blessing be on all of us and on the pious servants of God".

Then after finishing Salah you pray thus for blessing and benediction to each other:

As-Salam-o-Alaikum Ica ralintat-u-Allah.

This means that all of you are well-wishers of each other. All unitedly pray to only one Master for the well-being of all. None of you is alone and by himself. None of you ask for everything for himself only. Everybody's wish is that God's benevolence be bestowed on all, all be granted the ability to walk on the one straight path only, and all share together the blessing of God. In this way Salah unites your hearts, creates harmony in your ideas and develops among you a relationship of well-wishing for each other.

Congregation under an Imam (Leader)

But note that you never offer congregational Salah without an Imam. Even when two men pray together, one of them will be Imam and the other Muqtadi. When the Jama'at is formed, it is strictly prohibited to say Salah away from it. If you do that such a Salah will not be valid at all. Late-comers are ordained to join the Jama'at behind the same Imam. All this procedure is not restricted to Salah only. In fact a lesson has been given through it that if you want to live as Muslims, live as a united party like this. Your party cannot be a party at all unless you have an Imam. And when the party is formed, to be separate from it means that your life has ceased to be the life of a Muslim.

Quality and significance of Imamat (Leader ship)

It is not confined to this much only. The relation between the /mama/ and his followers has been established in a manner as to let you know that if the position of your Imam is such in this small mosque what position your Imam occupies in that grand mosque which is called "earth". what are his duties, what are his rights, how should you obey him, in which matters you should follow him, what should you do if he makes a mistake, to what extent you should follow him when he goes wrong, on what occasion you have the right to check him, when can you demand from him to correct his mistake and at what juncture you can remove him from Imamat. All this amounts to a practice on a small scale for running a big government---a practice which you are made to do five times a day in every small mosque.